


Signal

by TrufaxRex



Series: Reversal AU [2]
Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-21
Updated: 2018-02-21
Packaged: 2019-03-22 01:38:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13753539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrufaxRex/pseuds/TrufaxRex
Summary: Sometimes Roman is too busy to handle things the way they normally do.





	Signal

**Author's Note:**

> Seems people liked 'Reversal' which is pretty cool. This is still super experimental, as I try and navigate their relationship. I don't really have much of a plot, other than showing different aspects of it and how it weaves into their lives in this particular AU.
> 
> Also, this might not make a lot of sense without reading Reversal first.

Roman took a long drink of his iced tea as he stared at Dean across the table. Though Dean hadn’t said anything, Roman knew something was bothering the other man. Ever since last night, Dean had been  _ off  _ somehow. Dean loved his job as a park ranger, and despite the long hours he usually came home content. Something had happened though, there was an aura of unrest around him and his general lack of enthusiasm spoke the words that he refused to say out loud.

Still, Roman had learned early on not to push. If it was serious, Dean would have told him immediately. Whatever was bothering Dean was bad, but it wasn’t a threat to their home or relationship so Dean kept it to himself. While Roman didn’t think it was healthy for Dean to bottle things up, he also trusted that his partner would tell him in time.

Usually.

It was Thursday, a day from Friday. Weekends were usually good times for long scenes. Upset Dean usually meant at least a few hours of scene in order for him to take the edge off and calm down. However Roman was all wrapped up with some things for school on Friday, and he knew he wasn’t going to be up to it on Saturday. The end of the marking period was coming up, and he had tons of things to grade and straighten out. As much as he would love to help Dean decompress in the way his boyfriend prefered, it really wasn’t going to happen this weekend.

He needed to bring it up, but he also hated the idea of pushing Dean before he was comfortable. He was the straightforward one, and Dean always took a sort of roundabout way to get to his point.

But Dean had barely touched his dinner and was staring off into the distance. There was a spoon in his hand and he was gripping it so tightly he was starting to tremble slightly.

Swallowing, Roman slowly put his cup down and pushed his bowl away. With a sigh, he folded his hands on the table. “You okay?”

Dean’s turned to look at him, blue eyes widening a little in surprise. His expression quickly changed to something more brooding and he leaned back in his chair, letting the spoon fall to the table. “Oh yeah, I’m good. Tired, but you know. Hiking.”

Roman resisted raising an eyebrow. Dean was certainly tired. He had tossed and turned throughout the night, waking Roman up a few times. There were dark circles under his eyes, deeper than usual. They both ascribed to the notion of getting good rest since they had strenuous jobs. So a very tired Dean was an unusual sight indeed.

“You don’t look so hot.” Roman admitted. “You’re not getting sick, are you?”

“What? No.” Dean scoffered, offended. But his ire lacked its usual bite. He slumped a little, brining his hand up to scratch at his bearded chin. “Its nothin’, man.”

Roman sighed and got up. He deliberately took his time gathering Dean’s bowl and spoon to take to the sink. Almost immediately,  Dean stood up, chair squeaking painfully against the linoleum floor as he snatched the bowl from Roman’s hands. 

He couldn’t quite look Roman in the eye, but growled out. “Just - Just sit down, I’ll take care of it.”

Without comment, Roman took his seat again, holding onto his half-drunk glass of iced tea. He watched quietly as Dean gathered their dishes and headed to the sink. After a few moments, Roman called over. “Do you want me to help?”

“Nope, I got it.” Dean’s voice was slightly strained as he began to wash the dishes. Judging from the sounds of ceramic hitting one another, he was obviously agitated. After cleaning the few dishes they had, Dean returned to the table his brow furrowed and his mouth pressed into a frown.

He stopped just as he was about to sit down and glanced at Roman. For his part, Roman just looked at him innocently, before bringing his cup to his lips to take another drink.

Dean sighed and collapsed in the chair, roughly ruffling his own hair in frustration. He let out a deep sign before giving Roman the most pitiful look his blue eyes could muster.

“Roman,” He started, voice tight. “This could be a long weekend.”

And that was exactly what Roman was afraid of.  “I could tell.” Roman answered. “But Dean, you know the spring concert is tomorrow.”

Dean’s eyes widened in surprise.  “Already?”

“Yeah, it kind of snuck up on me too.” Roman said. “I won’t be back until around 9.”

“And Saturday?” Dean sounded almost hesitant to ask.

“Grades are due next week.” Roman sounded regretful. “I’ve gotta get this backlog of stuff graded.”

Dean let out a long breath, his face a complex mix of emotions. He was clearly struggling with the news, gripping the table tightly. “Maybe, Sunday?”

“Maybe Sunday.” Roman nodded. “But maybe we could talk about it now?”

Dean looked stricken, as though that he the very last thing he wanted to do. But after a few seconds of contemplating he swallowed thickly and nodded. He couldn’t quite look at Roman, instead staring at the patterns in the wood of the table.

“Yesterday, during work. I was on one of the trails, kinda far out.” Dean started, voice low. “I was just checking the trail like normal, clearing paths and making sure markers were up. Like normal.” He paused, a hand going up to his collarbone, rubbing uncomfortably. “I heard this like, crying sound. I thought it was a hurt animal. I had to go off the path and --”

Dean stopped suddenly, choking his next words. Roman itched to go over and comfort him, but he knew that could snap Dean out of his vulnerable state and he might clam up. Still, Roman couldn’t help the sense of dread that filled him as Dean continued his story.

“T-there was a kid, Roman. Like a six year old kid. “ Dean’s voice rose an octave. It was clear from his voice he still hadn’t quite wrapped his head around what had happened. “He was covered in mud, and there was blood on this….this jacket he was wearing. H-he broke his leg and couldn’t walk. Fuck! Roman….. I carried him back and we called the cops.”

Dean suddenly looked up, his face looked horror-stricken, quickly turning to anger. “Fuck! T-they didn’t even know he was! No one had put in a missing person’s report or anything! Some…...some fucking monster abandoned this kid in the woods! He coulda died out there! What if I hadn’t been checking that trail yesterday?! Who does that to a fuckin’ kid!”

Dean’s face was turning red, and his eyes starting to water. Roman couldn’t stand it any longer, the story leaving him shaken as well. Without hesitating he got up and hurried to Dean’s side, hunching over to wrap the other man in his arms. He couldn’t image how Dean must have felt in that situation. Coming across a  _ child _ . Abandoned in the woods. He knew what haunted Dean the most was the fact that he and his co-workers did trails in rotation. If that trail had already been done the days prior. It might have been another week before anyone had gone out that far.

Roman squeezed Dean again, trying to shake off the sick feeling himself so he could comfort his boyfriend. But the idea of someone doing the same thing to one of his fifth graders made his stomach twist.

“I don’t fuckin’ get it, Ro.” Dean held onto his boyfriend tightly, nearly vibrating with anger. His words came out as a vicious snarl, the pain of this particular case hitting Dean hard. “No matter what. No matter what bullshit your into or whatever fucking baggage you have, you don’t do that to kids! They didn’t ask to be born and fuck you for treating them like fucking toys you can throw out when you don’t want ‘em. Anybody who does that to a kid deserves to fucking rot in hell.”

It broke Roman’s heart to hear Dean speak like this. Mostly because he knew that Dean was speaking from experience, not just this incident. This must have hit so close to home for Dean, and it made sense why it had affected him so thoroughly. If there was one thing that could set Dean off it was abuse towards children. He’d grown up rough, and made something of himself when everyone who was supposed to love him kept him down. Dean championed child welfare. He was always interested in what Roman was doing with his classes. Coming to support the concerts and shows at the school, making sure students whose guardians couldn’t show up got flowers or cards for a job well-done. Their first Christmas together, Dean had confessed that he usually went out and bought toys just to dump them in Toys for Tots bins. He didn’t have many people to buy gifts for, and he figured he’d rather spend the money to give some poor kid a good Christmas rather than waste it on himself.

Dean had a heart of gold, and he often tried to deflect it buy being overly goofy or cold stand-offish. But his generosity and genuine concern for others had always made an impression on Roman. The world hadn’t always been kind to Dean Ambrose, but he chose to be kind to it.

They just held onto one another for a while, Dean holding back the tears that were threatening to fall and Roman barely able to stop his own eyes from watering. Eventually Dean sniffed and loosened his grip on Roman’s arms, taking in a deep breath.

Roman leaned down and kissed the side of his head. “At least he’s safe now, Dean. You found him and brought him to some people who will take care of him.”

Dean nodded. “Y-yeah. I called the hospital they took him too. He lost some blood, and his leg was pretty messed up. But they said he’s doing okay. We, my coworkers and I. We’re gonna put together a gift for him. Just some clothes and toys and stuff like that. Y’never know where kids end up, so… it’ll be good if he has some stuff.”

“That sounds like a good plan, babe.” Roman said softly. “I’m really proud of you. You’re amazing.”

“Dunno about that.” Dean almost laughed. He tilted his head back to look up at Roman and squinted. “Are you crying?”

“Nah, just got some dust in my eyes.” Roman scoffed. 

But Dean wasn’t having it. He gently pushed Roman’s arms away and got up, only to then turn and sweep the slightly shorter man into his arms. He pressed a gentle to kiss to Roman’s lips, before looking down at him seriously. “Thank you, Ro. I have no idea what I’d do without you.”

“You were doin’ pretty good before you met me, Ambrose.” Roman said warmly. “But I’m happy to help when I can.”

Dean nodded, a wobbly smile on his lips. “So, maybe Sunday?”

“You did good, so yeah.” Roman agreed. He reached up to cup the back of Dean’s head and gently brought their foreheads together. “Maybe Sunday.”

Dean squeezed Roman tight, obviously pleased. They stood in the kitchen, embracing one another for a few more moments before Dean moved back from Roman just a few inches. 

Biting his lip Dean asked innocently. “Shower?”

“Sure.” Roman answered easily, untangling himself from Dean’s hold. “Five minutes?”

“I can go get it ready.” Dean said. There was a slight pause and Dean added. “Can I wash your hair?”

Looking over from where he was pushing in the chairs, Roman raised an eyebrow. “Don’t push it.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
